Principal Module Aims

This 15 CATS undergraduate second-year option module will discuss the battles "for" and "against" democracy in interwar Europe, namely in the Weimar Republic, in France during the Popular Front, and in Spain during the Civil War. The second part of the module will then explore how radical movements tried to implement their ideas in an attempt to reshape both polities and societies according to their visions. Case studies here will include the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. While the module will draw upon national case studies, it aims at providing a genuinely European understanding of these developments, highlighting how national cases were interconnected.

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of historical and theoretical interpretations of modern Europe.
• Communicate ideas and findings, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
• Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material for the study of modern Europe, including electronic resources.
• Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing scholarship.
• Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.